Written Answers Thursday 30 April 2009

Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) 2003 Act

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to re-examine the regulation of land tenancies to clarify the rights of tenants and rectify any anomalies in the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) 2003 Act in respect of the sale of fixed assets or improvements on quitting a tenancy.

Richard Lochhead: We want to promote a viable and dynamic agricultural tenancy sector. I therefore welcome the work of the Tenant Farming Forum on these issues and hope that the forum will be able to reach a consensus on the way forward. I have made clear that the government is prepared to look at bringing forward legislation if and when such a consensus is reached.

Alcohol Misuse

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle alcohol misuse in the Lothians, particularly among people aged between 15 and 18.

Nicola Sturgeon: Alcohol misuse affects all of society and that is why our framework takes a whole population approach rather than focusing only on our young people.

  Our framework does, however, contain a range of actions specifically aimed at reducing and addressing alcohol misuse among young people, including: investment in diversionary activities for children and young people; reducing the impact of alcohol advertising on young people; reviewing current advice for parents and carers, and working with our partners at national and local levels to improve substance misuse education in schools. In addition, at our request, Young Scot has set up a Youth Commission to explore the issues faced by young people in relation to alcohol misuse.

  We provided £3.4 million of funding (an increase on the previous year of 200% via NHS Lothian, to the Lothian Alcohol and Drug Action Teams in 2008-09, with whom the responsibility for commissioning local services lies. Local partners are best placed to commission appropriate services in line with assessment of local need and priorities.

Blood Donors

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the number of blood donors.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has recently undertaken new TV and radio advertising campaigns as well as campaigns for schools and universities and a "Missing You" initiative which have all been highly successful. In the longer term, the SNBTS strategy 2009-14 plans to modernise the blood collection process by deploying a range of measures, including better use of technology, designed to reach out to new donors and retain them once recruited. These will give donors more choice in where, when and how they can donate blood.

Children’s Hearings

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its report on the consultation process in relation to Strengthening for the Future: A Consultation on the Reform of the Children’s Hearings System .

Fiona Hyslop: I am pleased to announce that today the Scottish Government is publishing its summary report on the responses to Strengthening for the Future: consultation on the reform of the Children’s Hearings system . The document is available on the Scottish Government website at:

  www.scotland.gov.uk/childrens-hearings-bill.

  Copies of the report have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47908).

  We are grateful to everyone who responded to the Strengthening for the Future consultation. We have carefully listened to the responses and taken the time to adapt our policy to more closely address the concerns and issues raised.

  A locally delivered, nationally supported children’s hearing system that provides streamlined and strengthened support for Scotland’s most vulnerable children is our aim. The key proposals which we are bringing forward are:

  Panel Members will benefit from more consistent support and training in order to make the important decisions that can have such a positive effect on children’s lives.

  A new body, the Scottish Children’s Hearings Tribunal, will be responsible for all functions associated with the Children’s Panel, including recruitment, selection and training of panel members. The Tribunal will be led by a president who will have the power to work with volunteers to exercise its key functions.

  People who wish to volunteer to become panel members will continue to be recruited, selected, trained and sit on hearings on a local basis.

  The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration will continue to deliver the Children’s Reporters service.

  The management and provision of Safeguarders will remain with local authorities.

  The procedural changes proposed in the consultation, such as providing an option to speed up the process for establishing grounds where child is too young or incapable of understanding them, will be taken forward.

  We intend to introduce the Children’s Hearing Bill to the Scottish Parliament in the autumn.

Communities

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place between the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to ensure the safety of vulnerable communities.

Alex Neil: Both the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, along with other Cabinet colleagues, regularly discuss a wide range of issues including the safety of vulnerable communities.

Enterprise

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts with private business advice service providers have been terminated in order to secure the transfer of business advice through Business Gateway to local authorities; what the value of any such contracts was, and how many jobs have been transferred from the private to the public sector as a result.

Jim Mather: No contracts with private business advice providers have been terminated to secure the transfer and no jobs have been transferred from the private to the public sector. The Highlands and Islands Enterprise’ (HIE) contract with Development Partners, which runs to March 2010, will continue to support HIE’s account managed businesses with specialist and bespoke advice.

  In the Scottish Enterprise area, all 12 local Business Gateway contracts (which had been subject to EU tendering processes) transferred to local authorities on 1 April 2008 and no contracts have been terminated.

Environment

Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider using satellite technology to monitor light pollution.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government has no plans to monitor light pollution using satellite technology but recognises that poorly designed, excessive and badly aimed lighting can have an adverse environmental effect. That is why we have recently introduced new legislation to include light pollution within the Statutory Nuisance regime as part of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008. The approach taken on light pollution is the most comprehensive in the United Kingdom with only lighthouses being exempt from the new nuisance provisions. Detailed guidance to accompany the provisions was published in January 2009 and can be found at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/01/23142152/0.

Ferry Services

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a recent indication from the European Commission of when it expects to conclude its state aid investigation into support for ferry services in Scotland.

Stewart Stevenson: The timing of the conclusion of the European Commission’s investigation on support for ferry services in Scotland is a matter for the commission. However, I understand from recent discussions that the commission anticipates making a final decision on this investigation by September 2009.

Ferry Services

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any meetings between ministers and the European Commission to discuss its state aid investigation into support for ferry services in Scotland have taken place since 12 December 2008 and whether further meetings are planned.

Stewart Stevenson: The most recent meeting between Scottish ministers and the European Commission to discuss this investigation was held on 12 December 2008.

  Whilst there are currently no plans for any further such ministerial meetings, Scottish ministers will continue to engage with the Commission, both directly and indirectly as appropriate, to protect the support for lifeline ferry services to Scotland’s remote and island communities.

Ferry Services

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available copies of its submissions to the European Commission regarding the state aid investigation into support for ferry services in Scotland.

Stewart Stevenson: No.

Financial Services Sector

Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to assist the Dunfermline Building Society and when.

Jim Mather: In his statement to the Scottish Parliament on 1 April 2009, the First Minster set out in detail the full extent of the Scottish Government’s involvement in this matter.

  Following initial information from the Dunfermline Building Society that it required additional capital to meet the Financial Services Authority (FSA) stress test requirements, Scottish Government officials undertook a series of meetings and discussions both internally and with Dunfermline Building Society and its representatives to establish what, if any, intervention could appropriately be made by the Scottish Government to assist.

  On 16 March 2009, Scottish Government officials had meetings with the FSA and HM Treasury and advised that the Scottish Government was willing to provide capital investment of £25 million to the Dunfermline Building Society, subject to a number of guarantees on social housing loans if that would help find a solution. A number of proposals were put forward by Scottish Government Officials, the most likely being that we would use our end-year flexibility to achieve this.

  From then on, Scottish Government officials were in constant contact with the FSA and the Treasury to seek to reach a positive conclusion. The First Minister spoke to Adair Turner of the FSA on Sunday 22 March and met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer in London on Wednesday 25 March. Further discussions took place after this stage.

Financial Services Sector

Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take to support Dunfermline Building Society headquarters staff whose jobs are at risk.

Jim Mather: On 1 April 2009, the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance met with senior representatives from Nationwide Building Society to discuss the impact of the merger on Scotland in terms of both employment and HQ function. Nationwide confirmed that all Dunfermline staff have transferred to the Nationwide; there will be no compulsory redundancies among Dunfermline branch staff in the next three years, and that there will be opportunities for Dunfermline staff to apply for vacancies within Nationwide going forward.

  The Scottish Government has established a Finance Sector Jobs Taskforce to consider specific issues in relation to securing jobs and assist with retaining people and skills from the financial services industry in Scotland.

  We will continue to work with Nationwide to understands its future plans in relation to the staff and functions at Dunfermline HQ and to offer all possible help and support.

General Practitioners

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether regulations allow a GP practice to continue operating as a dispensing practice if a commercial dispensing pharmacy is given consent to open in its area and, if not, what plans the Scottish Executive has to amend regulations to provide this option..

Nicola Sturgeon: The NHS General Medical Services Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2004 provide that health boards shall require or authorise a GP practice to dispense prescribed items to a patient where the health board are satisfied that the patient will have serious difficulty in obtaining such items from a pharmacist.

  Where a health board subsequently decides to approve the opening of a pharmacy in an area served by such a GP practice, they will require to consider the issue again, in line with these regulations. The regulations do not require that the practice must cease dispensing.

Health

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what minimum level is specified by guidance for home contact by health visitors with children during their pre-school years.

Nicola Sturgeon: Health for all Children (Hall 4) Guidance issued in April 2005 sets out the minimum programme of screening, surveillance and health promotion checks which every child should receive. The guidance does not stipulate a minimum level of home contact by health visitors.

  Health for all Children Guidance recommends that services are targeted according to need and that Public Health nurses (Health Visitors and Nurses who provide care in schools) will therefore determine the nature and frequency of contacts beyond the core programme on the basis of each individual family’s needs. This is supported by the recommendation in Equally Well, the Report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities, to provide services to identify and provide support to the most vulnerable children and families.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will address concerns over the potential for a reduction in academic staff employment conditions at Stirling University following proposed changes to its academic staff statutes.

Fiona Hyslop: Universities, as autonomous bodies, are responsible for seeking to make changes to their own governance arrangements and ministers have no powers to direct them. However, the Privy Council seeks Scottish ministers advice on these matters and in considering these ministers will take account of all views expressed on any proposed changes.

Homelessness

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people registered as homeless in the Lothians region in each of the last four quarters for which information is available, broken down by local authority.

Alex Neil: The information requested is available from table 11 of the quarterly time series reference tables published on the Scottish Government website on 17 March 2009. The tables can be accessed at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/QtrlyRefTablesMarch2009.

Homelessness

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have registered as homeless in the Lothians region in each month since May 2007.

Alex Neil: The following table indicates the numbers of applications assessed as homeless in the Lothians from May 2007 until September 2008 (the latest point for which data has been published):

  

 
 East Lothian
 Edinburgh
 Midlothian
 West Lothian


 May 2007
 65
 486
 56
 107


 June 2007
 49
 424
 50
 129


 July 2007
 51
 424
 55
 120


 August 2007
 65
 441
 63
 121


 September 2007
 52
 366
 50
 83


 October 2007
 69
 476
 70
 96


 November 2007
 53
 398
 41
 97


 December 2007
 51
 309
 33
 65


 January 2008
 74
 405
 63
 117


 February 2008
 69
 409
 80
 114


 March 2008
 70
 375
 49
 98


 April 2008
 74
 396
 45
 129


 May 2008
 71
 426
 35
 121


 June 2008
 85
 435
 76
 95


 July 2008
 68
 395
 53
 124


 August 2008
 59
 331
 62
 101


 September 2008
 69
 370
 44
 112

Homelessness

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have registered as homeless in the Lothians region in each year since 2002, broken down by local authority.

Alex Neil: The information requested is available from table 25 of the annual reference tables published on the Scottish Government website on 29 September 2008 and subsequently updated on 17 March 2009. The tables can be accessed at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/DatasetHomeless0708.

Housing

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the current economic climate, what further support it is offering to homeowners in government supported shared equity schemes.

Alex Neil: Households on low to moderate incomes can buy their home through our Open Market Shared Equity Pilot and New Supply Shared Equity scheme within the Scottish Government’s Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT). From 1 April, the Open Market scheme has been temporarily expanded from the previous ten council areas to the whole of Scotland with an increased budget of £60 million.

  In addition, our Mortgage to Shared Equity scheme opened for applications on 16 March, as part of the Scottish Government’s concerted action to address repossessions. It allows Scottish ministers to take an equity stake in a home owner’s property, thus enabling them to remain in their home by reducing the level of debt secured against it to a more manageable level.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many social rented houses were sold to tenants in each month from January 2008 to January 2009, broken down by local authority.

Alex Neil: We do not have the requested data for the timeframe specified. We report social rented housing sales numbers, broken down by local authority, by financial year only (that is April to March). We expect to publish data for 2008-09 in autumn 2009.

  The most recent available data on social rented housing sales numbers is for April 2007 to March 2008 and is presented in the following table.

  Sales of Social Housing to Sitting Tenants, 2007-08

  

 Area
 No. of Sales


 Scotland
 7,489


 Aberdeen City
 476


 Aberdeenshire
 263


 Angus
 124


 Argyll and Bute
 86


 Clackmannanshire
 100


 Dumfries and Galloway
 169


 Dundee City
 247


 East Ayrshire
 271


 East Dunbartonshire
 75


 East Lothian
 131


 East Renfrewshire
 47


 Edinburgh, City of
 272


 Eilean Siar
 28


 Falkirk
 364


 Fife
 476


 Glasgow City
 667


 Highland
 246


 Inverclyde
 128


 Midlothian
 117


 Moray
 131


 North Ayrshire
 330


 North Lanarkshire
 822


 Orkney
 15


 Perth and Kinross
 155


 Renfrewshire
 243


 Scottish Borders, The
 110


 Shetland
 46


 South Ayrshire
 111


 South Lanarkshire
 630


 Stirling
 128


 West Dunbartonshire
 198


 West Lothian
 283



  Sources: Sales 1 returns by local authorities to the Scottish Government, Communities Analytical Services (Housing Statistics). Scottish Housing Regulator RSL Annual Performance and Statistical Returns 2008.

  Notes:

  - These figures represent all right to buy (RTB) and voluntary sales of council and/or registered social landlord (RSL) properties in each local authority area.

  - Figures will include sales of houses and flats.

  - RTB sales figures include sales made on both preserved and modernised terms.

  - Following housing stock transfers the figures for Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow, Scottish Borders, Eilean Siar and Argyll and Bute represent RSL property sales only.

  - The figure for Inverclyde includes an estimate of council housing sales up to the transfer of stock to housing associations at the end of 2007.

Housing

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether responsibility for the administration of the Rural Empty Properties Grant scheme has been transferred from Communities Scotland to local authorities and, if so, (a) when it was transferred, (b) what action was taken to ensure that expertise and skills built up by employees at Communities Scotland in relation to the scheme were passed on to local authorities, (c) what the Scottish Government’s response is to concerns that some local authorities are unwilling or unable to administer or promote the scheme, (d) how local authorities promote the scheme and (e) whether it will encourage local authorities to do more to promote the scheme.

Alex Neil: Responsibility for the administration of the Rural Empty Properties Grant scheme remains with Scottish Government Housing Investment Division and any enquiries are dealt with through the Regional network of former Communities Scotland offices and staff.

Housing

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is confident in the accuracy of its earlier projections of the demand for new homes in the Scottish Borders and whether these projections are reflected in the strategic development plans proposed by the City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and Scottish Borders councils and approved by ministers.

Alex Neil: Projections of the demand for new homes in specific local authority areas are not undertaken by Scottish Government. Such projections are the responsibility of local authorities.

Justice

Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the progress of the injury surveillance pilot at Glasgow Royal Infirmary being undertaken by the national Violence Reduction Unit.

Fergus Ewing: I know Stewart Maxwell has been a strong advocate of the benefits of using anonymised injury data collected in hospitals to inform local police action. This approach, based on groundbreaking work in Cardiff, is one we fully support and the Scottish Government has been working in partnership with the National Violence Reduction Unit to introduce it more widely throughout Scotland. Initial pilots in hospitals such as the Glasgow Royal Infirmary have shown the approach can be labour intensive, diverting clinicians from their primary tasks. That is why we are supporting a fully electronic system in the NHS Lanarkshire area, which will overcome these issues.

Justice

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed, or intends to review, the requirements under the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 for traditional galas, common ridings, ridings of the marches and Remembrance Day parades to be notified to the relevant local authority.

Kenny MacAskill: I recently discussed the current notification system with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). COSLA and ACPOS have advised me that it would be premature to make amendments to the legislative framework after the relatively short period since the law was changed, either on a local or national basis. I agree with this view.

  There are important reasons why even non-contentious marches and parades need to be planned carefully. An integrated approach by all involved is essential to achieve this, and I understand that the notification requirements, as amended by the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006, have contributed to improving joint working across Scotland.

  The notification process, as the Guidance to Local Authorities on Marches and Parades makes clear, is intended to provide local authorities with discretion to deal flexibly with public processions in their areas.

  I will review the situation in due course.

Justice

Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the law surrounding representation in court so that individuals in civil cases are given equal access to legal representation as those in criminal cases.

Kenny MacAskill: We have recently made significant improvements to the financial eligibility rules for civil legal aid which should help ensure that a million more Scots have access to subsidised legal representation.

  There are important distinctions in the way in which publicly funded legal representation is provided in civil and criminal cases which take account of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and of differences between civil and criminal procedure.

Local Government Finance

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what each local authority’s annual interest cost is as a proportion of it’s spend in 2008-09.

John Swinney: The following table shows for each council the budgeted interest payments for 2008-09 as a percentage of budgeted net expenditure. Actual costs for 2008-09 are not yet available.

  The interest costs used to calculate the percentages are interest costs on local authority borrowing. The interest costs do not include PPP/PFI repayments unless the PPP/PFI is on balance sheet. If the PPP/PFI is on balance sheet the arrangement is treated as a finance lease and the local authority is required to separate out the interest cost from the principal repayment cost. In such cases the interest cost will be recognised and included with the total interest cost for the local authority.

  Interest Payments as a Percentage of Budgeted Net Expenditure 2008-09

  

 Council
 


 Aberdeen City
 5.4%


 Aberdeenshire
 2.9%


 Angus
 2.7%


 Argyll and Bute
 4.0%


 Clackmannanshire
 4.8%


 Dumfries and Galloway
 3.1%


 Dundee City
 3.6%


 East Ayrshire
 4.0%


 East Dunbartonshire
 3.1%


 East Lothian
 3.9%


 East Renfrewshire
 3.1%


 Edinburgh, City of
 4.5%


 Eilean Siar
 8.7%


 Falkirk
 3.4%


 Fife
 3.2%


 Glasgow City
 5.5%


 Highland
 4.7%


 Inverclyde
 4.3%


 Midlothian
 1.8%


 Moray
 4.6%


 North Ayrshire
 3.4%


 North Lanarkshire
 3.4%


 Orkney Islands
 2.9%


 Perth and Kinross
 2.7%


 Renfrewshire
 2.5%


 Scottish Borders
 3.6%


 Shetland Islands
 0.2%


 South Ayrshire
 3.2%


 South Lanarkshire
 5.0%


 Stirling
 4.8%


 West Dunbartonshire
 2.6%


 West Lothian
 4.6%


 All Scotland
 4.0%



  These figures exclude Housing Revenue Account interest and expenditure.

  Net expenditure is that to be financed from grants, non-domestic rates, council tax and balances. As such it is expenditure after any income for a specific purpose has been taken into account.

Maternity Services

Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Grampian regarding neo-natal capacity.

Nicola Sturgeon: I discussed Neonatal Services with NHS Grampian at the Annual Review Meeting on 22 August 2008. In addition Scottish Government officials have had a number of discussions over the last few months with the board regarding neonatal capacity.

NHS Hospitals

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what investment plans it has for the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre at Stracathro Hospital.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Tayside and its partner NHS boards are currently evaluating the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre project with a view to establishing future capacity requirements and developing options and recommendations for the way forward after the existing contract with Netcare (UK) Ltd ends in early 2010. The Scottish Government will consider future arrangements, including any investment requirements, in the light of this and of a final formal audit review which will take place during the summer in accordance with the terms of the contract.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list its chief officers with responsibility for NHS health professionals.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Chief Officers with responsibility for NHS health professionals are as follows:

  Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland with lead responsibility for Doctors and Physicians Assistants.

  Dr Margaret McGuire, Acting Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland with lead responsibility for Nurses, Midwives, Allied Health Professions and Healthcare Scientists.

  Jacqui Lunday, Chief Health Professions Officer for Scotland with professional responsibility for Allied Health Professionals and Healthcare Scientists.

  Margie Taylor, Chief Dental Officer for Scotland with lead professional responsibility matters relating to Dentistry.

  Bill Scott, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for Scotland with lead professional responsibility for matters relating to Pharmacy.

NHS Waiting Times

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether clinical psychology services are included in its waiting times targets.

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are NHS hospital departments that are exempt from its waiting times targets.

Nicola Sturgeon: At present, there are no waiting times targets for access to clinical psychology services.

  The NHS is working to achieve the Scottish Government’s target of a maximum waiting time of 18 weeks from referral to treatment by the end of 2011. This target relates to acute hospital care and excludes mental health services, homeopathy, assisted conception, obstetrics and organ and tissue transplants.

  I recognise the importance of mental health services as a national priority and as a first step we are developing a referral to treatment waiting time target for specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for 2010-11. Access to psychological therapies will be receiving a similar focus over the coming months to inform consideration of establishing a waiting time target to access these services.

NHS Waiting Times

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for clinical psychology services in Edinburgh.

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive in which local authority areas waiting times for clinical psychology services are over 12 months.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not available centrally.

NHS Waiting Times

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive in which (a) local authority areas and (b) NHS hospital departments NHS waiting times are over 12 months.

Nicola Sturgeon: On 31 December 2008, no local authority areas and hospital departments which fall under current waiting time standards had waiting times of over 12 months.

Oil and Gas Industry

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has information on how much North Sea gas from Scottish fields has been exported as a percentage of the total amount extracted from such fields for each of the last five years for which information is available.

Jim Mather: The following table reports estimates on gas produced from Scottish fields in the North Sea, gas consumption in Scotland, and gas exports from Scotland.

  GWh

  

 
 2005
 2006
 2007


 Total UK production1
 1,025,232
 929,784
 838,092


 Sco % share of UK production2 
 58%
 59%
 60%


 Scottish production
 594,635
 548,573
 502,855



  

 Scottish Consumption3
 2005
 2006
 2007


 
 Domestic
 35,329
 34,342
 34,469


 Industrial/Commercial
 25,614
 24,468
 25,121


 Electricity Generation
 9,367
 10,309
 11,182


 Scottish energy industry use4
 49,972
 47,242
 44,648


 Scottish Exports
 474,352
 432,211
 387,435



  Notes:

  1. Data for UK Gas production are taken from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change publication, Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES) 2008.

  2. The Scottish share of UK gas production is based on estimates from the Aberdeen University research paper by Professor Alex Kemp and Linda Stephen which shows a gradual increase from approximately 58% Scottish share in 2005 to just over 60% in 2007.

  3. The Scottish consumption figures for Domestic, Commercial/Industrial and Electricity Generation are sourced from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change Energy Trends publication, annual December release.

  4. Scottish energy industry use is estimated by applying the Scottish production percentage used for each year (see note 2) to the total UK energy industry use figure for that year. UK Energy Industry use data are sourced from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change publication, Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES) 2008.

Planning

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-10948 and S3W-10947 by Michael Russell on 11 April 2008, for what reasons it will not make a statement to the Parliament in relation to the actions of Scottish ministers regarding the Aviemore resort hotels master plan and related planning applications.

Roseanna Cunningham: I am satisfied that Scottish ministers, in relation to the Aviemore Highland Resort’s planning applications, acted at all times in accordance with their responsibilities and accountabilities. In these circumstances, I believe it would be an inappropriate use of parliamentary time to make any Statement to Parliament on this matter.

Prison Service

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoner-on-prisoner assaults there were in each prison in each of the last five years.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  The following table illustrates the total number of prisoner on prisoner assaults broken down by year and establishment. The data is as of 22 April 2009.

  

 
 2004
 2005
 2006
 2007
 2008
 2009


 Aberdeen
 15
 33
 35
 20
 51
 12


 Addiewell
 0
 0
 0
 0
 0
 32


 Barlinnie
 50
 57
 64
 63
 67
 19


 Castle Huntly
 0
 0
 3
 0
 0
 0


 Cornton Vale
 8
 33
 27
 39
 50
 13


 Dumfries
 14
 27
 23
 35
 18
 8


 Edinburgh
 57
 54
 86
 67
 84
 23


 Glenochil Prison
 18
 16
 16
 20
 34
 7


 Greenock
 43
 23
 28
 25
 34
 11


 Inverness
 3
 21
 17
 21
 20
 5


 Kilmarnock
 36
 42
 41
 53
 68
 13


 Low Moss
 23
 30
 18
 12
 0
 0


 Noranside
 2
 2
 0
 0
 0
 0


 Open Estate
 0
 0
 0
 1
 2
 0


 Perth
 103
 62
 39
 59
 68
 18


 Peterhead
 2
 4
 12
 16
 14
 3


 Polmont
 184
 179
 151
 145
 130
 56


 Shotts
 11
 16
 16
 11
 11
 7

Privacy

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will expand the remit of its privacy working group to examine all aspects of privacy and to consider possible changes to legislation.

John Swinney: The Expert Group has been wound up as their work has finished and a public consultation paper will be published in due course.

Regeneration

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with stakeholders regarding the regeneration of the North Ayrshire economy.

Alex Neil: Both the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise are represented on the board of Irvine Bay Urban Regeneration Company (URC), which is leading regeneration efforts in North Ayrshire. Officials are in regular contact with the URC on local issues, and have engaged closely with North Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership (CPP) on the draft single outcome agreement for the area, which addresses the priority of growing the economy.

Renewable Energy

Jim Hume (South of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the 2008 woodfuel demand and usage data published by Forestry Commission Scotland, what measures it will take to incentivise and encourage the use of underutilised forest materials for biomass initiatives.

Roseanna Cunningham: The woodfuel demand and usage study reported increasing levels of demand for woodfuel. While the report of the Wood Fuel Task Force report indicated that there are substantial additional supplies of woody biomass. It recommended a number of actions which have been taken forward over the last year by the Task Force Steering Group.

  Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) is working with a number of stakeholders to increase material from small under-utilised woodlands to develop the potential of energy forestry. FCS is also working with local authorities to improve data on wood waste and other currently unused woody material such as arboricultural arisings. Support is provided through the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) for improved management of woodlands, which can bring additional material to market, and support the development of the supply chain infrastructure. FCS continues to support the development of a strong, sustainable woodfuel industry to stimulate the use of currently underutilised resources.

Scottish Government Funding

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget was for the Fairer Scotland Fund in each of the last three years and how it was spent.

Alex Neil: The Fairer Scotland Fund (FSF) was introduced in 2008-09. Over the period 2008-11, all 32 Community Planning Partnerships will receive an allocation from an annual budget of £145 million based on relative levels of multiple deprivation.

  The fund is invested by local authorities and their community planning partners in activities which will drive achievement of local priority outcomes linked to tackling poverty and improving employability, outlined in single outcome agreements.

  In keeping with the concordat between national and local government, individual investments are a matter for local decision by each partnership.

Sign Language

Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many sign language interpreters there are in Scotland; whether any disparities in the numbers between local authorities have been addressed, and what steps it is taking to increase numbers to provide the most efficient coverage to serve the deaf community.

Alex Neil: There are a total of 60 interpreters and 10 apprentices currently registered in Scotland. There is an uneven spread of interpreters with some rural areas and the Scottish Islands having very limited provision. With the support of our BSL and Linguistic Access Working Group, the Scottish Government is actively working to increase the numbers of interpreters nationally. We are doing this by putting in place an infrastructure which will increase the numbers of both BSL/English interpreters and the number of tutors able to teach BSL at advanced level and we have allocated £1.5 million over 2008-11 to support this work.

  The Scottish Government funded a pilot online interpreting project in 2008 to explore the potential for remote interpreting. Further work on this is now being undertaken by the voluntary organisations and private businesses involved in interpreting to consider the implications of this model of service for deaf people.

Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003, whether it will examine the legality of inserting clauses in the title deeds of properties stipulating that homeowners must pay for the maintenance of open spaces in their developments.

Fergus Ewing: The drafting of the constitutive deed which sets out the real burdens (for example in relation to the maintenance of open spaces in a development) is part of the conveyancing process carried out by a solicitor and during which both the sellers and the purchasers will be advised about their rights and obligations. This practice is the same as it was prior to the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003. The Scottish Government cannot intervene in private disputes about these legal rights and obligations, and there are no plans to change the law in this area.

Town Centres

Aileen Campbell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role it sees for urban design and community involvement in town centre regeneration.

Alex Neil: We see urban design and community involvement as having an essential role to play and will actively promote this through our newly launched Town Centres and Local High Streets Learning Network.

  Examples of current practice include the work of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company which has committed funding to improve the design quality of public realm and the urban environment of Kilwinning. This has been developed in collaboration with local businesses and has involved extensive community engagement in determining local priorities. And we recently presented a Scottish Award for Quality in Planning to those partners behind the Ellon Masterplan, Pattern Book and Model; a project which was developed using a collaborative planning and public engagement tool and design workshops to ensure that design is placed at the heart of the development process.

Wildlife

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 offer any protection to animals that are genetically rare but whose species are not rare, such as white roe deer.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 provide protection for particular species which require special conservation attention rather than for rare or unusual individuals.